Firewall
"Firewall" is the twenty-third and final episode of season 1, and overall the twenty-third produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on May 17, 2012. Synopsis New York, NY May 15, 2012 Reese arrives at the Library where Finch greets him. When Reese is asked what he has been doing he reports that he has been 'corrupting' Detective Fusco by encouraging him to climb the HR ladder. Finch introduces the newest number, a psychologist, Caroline Turing, who works with famous and rich clients. Reese begins to follow her and clones her phone. As she arrives at work, Reese is contacted by Fusco who informs him that he has a meeting with HR. Reese asked Fusco to get info about Turing. Reese, who is watching Turing during a counseling session with a client, overhears her being threatened. Fusco, accompanied by Officer Simmons, arrives at a meeting with HR brass. Fusco and Simmons are told that they are to participate in the murder and cover-up for hire. When Fusco sees the picture of the victim, he realizes that it is the same psychologist that Reese had asked him to investigate. He contacts Reese with this information. In order to more closely observe Turing, Reese installs a camera in the vent in her room to spy on Turing and finds another camera in the same spot that belonged to the killers. May 16, 2012 Finch arranges for a counseling session with Turing, where Reese is able to photo Turing's appointment book. A stuttering Reese begins his session by asking about the panic button under the desk. Turing observes that Reese is former military and asks if Reese feels the need to protect people. Finch warns him to be careful about how much he reveals. Detective Carter contacts Finch with information about the payoff that Councilman Larson, a member of HR, received for the murder of Turing. When Finch returns to the Library, he is followed by Alicia Corwin. Finch advises Reese that he is able to access the escrow account that was used to pay Larson and finds over 5 million dollars from various sources. Finch advises Reese that he has asked for help, as Zoe Morgan arrives at the bar where Reese is surveilling Turing. She tells Reese about the people who could be targeting Turing. That evening, Simmons advises the murderers on the best way to dispatch Turing without being detected. Reese, who has been following Turing, tries to convince her to take a cab but she refuses. As she walks down the street toward the attackers, Reese knocks one of the men out and shoots the other one, grabs Turing by the arm and escorts her away from the scene. He is caught on surveillance cameras displayed at the New York Police Real Time Crime Center and FBI Agent Donnelley is contacted. May 17, 2012 Agent Donnelley directs Carter to accompany him to the crime center. Upon arriving, she sees that Fusco is there as well. Reese and Turing check into the honeymoon suite of a nearby hotel, where they are again observed on surveillance camera, and FBI agents are dispatched to apprehend Reese. A HR mole has also notified the murderers of the location of Reese and Turing and they also arrive at the hotel. Reese has been injured in the attack and questions Turing about her knowledge of who would be hunting her. Reese observes the arrival of HR and Finch advises Reese to go to the roof of the hotel to steal a helicopter, but before they can do this the FBI arrive on the roof. Finch contacts Carter for help and by observing the hotel surveillance, she is able to help Reese and Turing avoid both HR and the FBI. As both groups are closing in on the two, Finch hacks the cell phone system for the area and cuts off communications, allowing Reese and Turing to escape to the freight elevator and then to the basement. As they are moving through the area, Reese sees a car and realizing that it probably belongs to HR, breaks in and takes guns and the detonator for a bomb in the trunk of the car. Meanwhile, Corwin has broken into the library and sees the computer system and the list of numbers. Zoe is investigating the client who was treatening Turing and discovers that he is an imposter. She proceeds to Turing's office, where she discovers that Turing is also an imposter. At the crime center, Carter observes Fusco texting someone and, following him to the men's room, confronts him with the informmation that she believes that he is working for HR. Fusco is forced at gunpoint to reveal that he has been working for Reese and Finch, just as she has. Finch contacts the two and advises them to go downtown to help Reese. Reese is able to get Turing to the exit to the old water treatment plant and informs her to go on and that Finch will be waiting for her. HR catches up to Reese and a gunfight ensues. With nearly no ammunition left, Reese is prepared to make a last ditch stand when Carter and Fusco arrive and pick him up. They follow the car with the HR out of the building. During the ensuing chase, Fusco and Carter confront Reese about the fact that they were bo†h helping him but unknown to the other. Reese tells Carter to slow down when they reach a deserted area and detonates the bomb in the car, killing the murderers. He gets out of the car and walks off. Finch is waiting for Turing at the water treatment plant when Corwin suddenly gets into the car and at gunpoint, confronts him about the Machine. She tells Finch that he needs to turn it off and tells him that she had been following him when he accuses her of luring him out by threatening Turing. Corwin is then shot in the head by Turing, who gets into the car and introduces herself to Finch as Root. Zoe contacts Reese and informs him that Turing had put the contract on herself to lure him out. Reese suddenly realizes that the real target was Finch. He goes to the rendezvous point near the water treatment plant and finds the murdered Alicia Corwin and that Finch is gone. Reese goes back to the surveillance camera on the corner of 49th and 6th and looking directly up at the surveillance camera speaks aloud, "He's in danger now because he was working for you. And now you're going to help me get him back." As Reese is looking into the camera the image changes into the camera's point of view and shows an apparent readout screen in a box next to Reese, which identifies him as "Monitoring Asset: Reese, John." When Reese speaks to the camera, his voice is digitally identified/recorded and after he stops speaking the readout screen immediately changes to "ERROR: Continuity of Operations Compromised" followed by the flashing words in red "Evaluating Options". Instantly a nearby pay phone rings, Reese walks over to the phone and answers it. Trivia *This is the first episode that Fusco and Carter are able to help Reese together. *Foreshadowing the later events of the episode, the box around Caroline Turing is yellow, indicating her awareness of the existence of the Machine and that she is likely not who she appears to be. *Reference to the above, it seems strange that the highlight was yellow, and not red, as root had evil intention. Production notes Analysis Themes Trust seems to be a theme in this episode. *Fusco asked Carter to trust him when she confronted him in the "John" (men's room). *Reese asked Carter and Fusco to trust him regarding the HR men in the other car after a dialog on trust. "Trust is Complicated" *Caroline Turing, a psychologist and the person of interest was entrusted with many secrets, and was supposedly targeted because of her potential betrayal. Cultural references *With Reese in the backseat Carter and Fusco drive by a huge billboard for the movie "Think Like A Man" which had Taraji P. Henson in a starring role. Literary techniques *The episode began on May 17, 2012 and just after Donnelley escorted Carter into the NYPD Real Time Crime Center (which had Reese and Root on a large monitor showing footage that occurred two hours before) flashed backed to May 15, 2012. This flashback is unique in that it is not in "blue/grey" tones and it was not a specific character's flashback. *There are certain similarities between this episode and : **Both episodes start with a flashback and end with Reese looking into a security camera. Moreover, the camera used by Reese to contact The Machine in this episode is the same location as that used at the end of . **The person of interest in both episodes is female and thought to be the victim. As it turned out, both women were actually the perpetrator. **Reese finds himself in the back seat of a police car. **The series' theme melody is played at the end of both episodes. Quotes "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not trying to kill you." (Reese to Turing as they try to escape HR hit team.) "Define wrong person." (Finch to Alicia Corwin) "I have to say Harold, we've been working together some time now, but you continue to surprise me.". (Reese to Finch after the cell phone hack.) "He's like a professor, he's got glasses and a high dollar vocabulary.". (Fusco describing Finch to Carter) 123 123